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Her Majesty – The Queen

September 8, 2022 in Life as we know it | 1 comment

Queen Elizabeth II
1926 – 2022
RIP

Sebastiandoe5 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Jack_Half-mast.jpg), „Union Jack Half-mast“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II – the longest serving monarch in British history. Our sincere and deepest condolences to the members of the Royal Family.

This is truly the end of an era. Her Majesty was crowned a matter of months before I was born and has been a constant presence serving the nation throughout my life – as she was for all those of us who hail from similar generations. In a world that has seen so many tempestuous changes hers was a stable and calming existence that brought some degree of certainty to the most uncertain of times. That the nation – and the world in general – is yet in such dire need of positive influences only makes this news all the more sad.

Requiescat In Pace.

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Peter Brook

July 6, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Peter Brook
1925 – 2022
RIP

There is little that I could write about the towering figure of post-war British theatre that was Peter Brook that could not – and will not – be far better addressed elsewhere. His influence on the theatre was immense, even once he had retreated to Paris and was less frequently seen in the UK. Sadly I was too young to catch the productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company that cemented his reputation (the which famously included ground-breaking productions of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream‘ and ‘Marat/Sade‘) and I only saw the filmed version of ‘The Mahabharata‘.

Brook was – of course – not only a theatre practitioner, but also a teacher, a thinker and a writer on the subject of the noble arts. Theatre students today would do just as well to seek out his many books. A quick hunt around my shelves reveals copies of ‘The Shifting Point‘, ‘There are no Secrets‘, ‘The Tip of the Tongue‘ and – of course – ‘The Empty Space‘ – without which I would not be.

A sad loss to the theatre and to the world.

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Alan White – Vangelis

May 28, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Alan White
1949 – 2022
Vangelis Papathanassiou
1943 – 2022
RIP

Image by Retromenico
Image by NikolasForWiki
It is with great sadness that I find myself reflecting on the passing of two giants of the musical scene – drummer Alan White and keyboard player and composer Vangelis Papathanassiou – each of whom featured heavily in the evolution of popular music over the last five decades and thus its influence on those who follow it. For me this was the period during which my own musical tastes were formed.

Alan White joined a favourite band of my younger years – Yes – in 1972, replacing the much loved Bill Bruford. Famously, Yes were about to tour the US (a tour which formed the backbone of the live album – YesSongs) and White had three days to learn their complex material. Fortunately he was no novice, being already known for his work with John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, as well as for Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Joe Cocker and George Harrison.

I first saw Yes live in London in 1975, at Loftus Road (the home of soccer club Queen’s Park Rangers). Another well known member of the band – Rick Wakeman – had left before the recording of their then latest album – Relayer – and they had invited Vangelis (who had at that point been part of Aphrodite’s Child with Demis Roussos) to replace him. Vangelis turned the band down (being, apparently, reluctant to travel) so I saw them in 1975 with Patrick Moraz on keyboards.

Vangelis – who is probably best known for his celebrated award-winning soundtracks for films such as Chariots of Fire and Bladerunner – did eventually team up with Yes’s vocalist – Jon Anderson – as the successful duo Jon and Vangelis.

It is always sad to mark the passing of one’s ‘heroes’ and they will both be sadly missed.

 

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